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Krallice unleash yet another surprise release, this time with killer New Year’s EP ‘Hyperion’

People are going to start spying on Krallice, and for good reason. OK, actually, there are very few good reasons to spy on people, but I digress. For the second time in the past six months, the band has dropped a surprise release in our laps, with not even a warning anything was coming.

So if you were like me and checked out your Facebook or whatever New Year’s Day and saw myriad posts about Krallice, you knew something was up, and that was new EP “Hyperion.” Yeah, on the final day of July, they did the same damn thing, unleashing their astonishing fifth album “Ygg Huur,” and now comes this great three-track new EP that furthers their ambition and creativity. If you are expecting something sonically like “Ygg Huur,” you’re in for a surprise, as it goes in a totally different direction and feels a bit more like their earlier work where they pushed the boundaries of progression. But that’s where those similarities end, as the band once again has come up with something fresh and mind-altering.

Krallice’s lineup has remained steadily in tact ever since releasing their debut, self-titled full-length in 2008. On guitars you have Colin Marston and Mick Barr (who also contributes vocals), on bass is Nicholas McMaster (also on vocals), and on drums is Lev Weinstein. As time has gone on and this band has continued to grow, they’ve become one of the most impressive in all of metal. If you argued who is the best all-around band in the genre today and stopped at Krallice, you wouldn’t get an argument here, and this new EP only serves to solidify that stance.

The EP kicks off with the 7:27 title cut, a blistering track that has riffs swirling like a tornado, with growls erupting and the melodies cascading down. The band hits on some proggy fire, as the song gets riveting a pretty fun, with each element sprawling all over, wild howls breaking out, and the jets later cooling as the pieces of this fade in space. “The Guilt of Time” starts with a burst of speed before some uncharacteristic but welcome warm melodies trickle beneath. Chaos erupts, later spilling into doomy deposits before going cold. The track later ignites all over again, with the elements boiling and the band blasting ahead. Wild howls crush, and the band rambles toward the finish.

Closer “Assuming Memory” begins chilling your blood, as the song builds deliberately toward its inevitable explosion. The band explores each inch of the room, with the drums exploding everywhere, the music taking you on a strange adventure, and the growls sounding like they’ve emerged from a cosmic hell. Murk rises up and darkens everything, a synth bed emerges and causes a visual scene like the aftermath of an apocalyptic struggle, and the fires fade away, leaving you breathless and devastated.

So Krallice will keep us guessing, whether that’s about where their sound is heading or when they’re going to drop something new on our heads. As long as they keep putting out music as good and challenging as this “Hyperion” EP, they can do whatever the F they want. I know when I part with money the first hours of 2016 that I hope I’m going to get something worthy, and my expectations were completely blown away by Krallice. Again.